Display takes sobering look at World War II

Justin Pottle

Updated 11:46 pm, Sunday, November 24, 2013

Greenwich Police Officer Bill Romanello in front of the "WWII, a Segregated War" display that he and the Connecticut Combat Team, a group of amateur military historians, put together at Greenwich Town Hall, as seen Friday, Nov. 22, 2013.
Photo: Bob Luckey

A photograph of the "Flying Nickels" Parachute Regiment, an African-American only U.S. Army Airborne regiment during WWII, is on display as part of Greenwich Police Officer Bill Romanello's "WWII, a Segregated War," display that he and the Connecticut Combat Team, a group of amateur military historians, put together at Greenwich Town Hall, as seen Friday, Nov. 22, 2013.
Photo: Bob Luckey

Norwalk native Ted "Tiger" Lowry's boxing gloves are a part of the display set-up by Greenwich Police Officer Bill Romanello in front of the "WWII, a Segregated War"" display that he and the Connecticut Combat Team, a group of amateur military historians, put together at Greenwich Town Hall, as seen Friday, Nov. 22, 2013. Lowry served in the U.S. Army Airborne 555 as a paratrooper during WWII and was also a boxer who is credited with taking boxing legend Rocky Marciano 10 rounds twice.
Photo: Bob Luckey

A photo of Norwalk native Ted "Tiger" Lowry, who served in the U.S. Army as a paratrooper during World War II, is displayed with other items from that war that deal with segregation in the armed services and are on display at Greenwich Town Hall, as seen Friday, Nov. 22, 2013.
Photo: Bob Luckey

A photo of Norwalk native Ted "Tiger" Lowry, who served in the U.S....

A poster of Dorie Miller of the U.S. Navy who received the Navy Cross for his bravery and heroism during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor is part of the "WWII, a Segregated War," display that Greenwich Police Officer Bill Romanello and the Connecticut Combat Team, a group of amateur military historians, put together at Greenwich Town Hall, as seen Friday, Nov. 22, 2013.
Photo: Bob Luckey

Just weeks after many people flocked to Greenwich Avenue to pay respects during the town's first Veterans Day walk, a local group of amateur historians and military buffs, the Connecticut Combat Team, has set up a Town Hall lobby display exploring the unpleasant realities of American military history and one of its greatest conflicts.

At first glance, the flags and period uniform, sepia-tinted photographs and wartime posters don't suggest anything out of the ordinary.

But a closer look tells a different story of World War II. The pictures are filled with proud soldiers, lined in their regalia or fighting in the trenches. And none are white.

The stories told in "World War II: A Segregated War," are heartbreaking. Doris "Dorie" Miller, a black Navy cook, manned anti-aircraft guns and saved his ship's captain during Pearl Harbor, but was denied a Medal of Honor. The 100th Infantry Battalion, an all-Japanese-American unit that fought in Europe, while in the U.S., people of Japanese descent were interned on the West Coast.

"I once asked a former Tuskegee Airman why he chose to fight despite the discrimination at home," said Court Officer Bill Romanello, a member of the Greenwich Police Department and Connecticut Combat Team. "He said, `This is my country, too.' Despite all the things the service did to them, they said `This is my country and I can fight for it.' "

The Tuskegee Airmen, named after the Alabama airfield where they were required to train due to their race, were a legendary unit of black aviators that flew over 1,500 missions during the war. They feature prominently in the Town Hall display.

"We're trying to keep the story of these people and what they did alive," Romanello said.

While sobering, Romanello said the display is also a celebration of the tremendous sacrifice made by American minorities who were actively discriminated against in the military.

The organization, which includes Officer Albert Moavero and Lead Dispatcher Mark Wilson of the Greenwich Police Department among its members, gives lectures and displays at schools and community groups. Romanello said the group had been organizing a display in Town Hall for the past seven years, usually consisting of items and mementos collected by team members. Past years involved bringing uniforms from conflicts ranging from the American Revolution to the Gulf War.

But this year, the team decided to do something different.

"A couple of years ago, I was packing to go on an overnight for a live re-enactment," Romanello said. "I was loading in my stuff and my wife sees me. She says `You all see this war through hazy, rose-tinted glasses.' But we're not war mongers. We look at war through social, historical, and technological lenses."

The idea was to take a hard, uncomfortable look at the intersection between American society and its military in the segregation of the armed forces at a time when Jim Crow laws still dominated much of the United States.

"The greatest generation had some issues," Romanello said.

Many of the items in the display are authentic World War II pieces collected by Combat Team members and shared to help tell historical stories through physical relics. Period photographs, many of them reproductions, documents and contemporary commentary, help round out the display. Romanello said the opportunity to bring history out of the textbooks and into the tangible world was a powerful one.

"Especially for kids, they get about two weeks of World War II history, but it's just dry, book stuff," he said. "With this display, in turn, they'll hopefully understand a little bit more."